"He showed how to effectively use the cage" - Fan enjoys Kade Ruotolo's off-the-wall approach

Kade Ruotolo, one half of the popular Ruotolo brothers, made his ONE Championship debut at ONE 157 in May. In his first contest, he faced Asian MMA legend Shinya Aoki in a submission grappling bout.

While Ruotolo was unable to submit Aoki, he earned a unanimous decision win after the time limit had expired. Throughout the bout, Ruotolo showed off his abilities and wowed the crowd with a unique moment that saw him push himself off the cage to switch positions. The maneuver caused a scramble that allowed Ruotolo to take the back of Aoki.

The ONE Championship Twitter account uploaded a clip of the impressive takedown, with the caption:

"Improvise. Adapt. Overcome."

One fan was especially impressed with Ruotolo's use of the cage to gain a tactical advantage in the bout.

"He showed how to effectively use the cage"

After his success against Aoki, Kade's brother Tye Ruotolo took to the ONE circle and delivered a masterful performance, submitting Garry Tonon with a d'Arce choke just 97 seconds into the submission grappling contest.

Following their fantastic debut, Kade Ruotolo took to Instagram to celebrate their victories and to thank the man who made it all possible.

"What a night! We both won our @onechampionship grappling debuts. We are happy with our performances and grateful for the support from everyone. We also want to thank @yodchatri for creating this amazing platform to do what we love and for the $50K bonus for Tye’s submission performance against Tonon. So stoked and super grateful."

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Kade Ruotolo wants to face Aoki in a mixed martial arts bout

Following his successful debut against and MMA legend, Kade Ruotolo made it known that he was disappointed in his performance, particularly not being able to submit the MMA legend.

In his post-fight interview, Ruotolo said:

“That was a huge, huge win for me. Shinya is a very tough opponent, one of the best jiu-jitsu practitioners to ever do it in the MMA scene and jiu-jitsu scene. I thought for sure I was going to get the submission. I guess that is why I’m a bit disappointed at the moment. But at the same time, there were a couple of cool moments in the match."

When talking about what may come next, Ruotolo suggested a possible rematch with Aoki, but in a mixed martial arts contest.

“If he’s up for it, I’d love to [rematch Shinya in MMA]. That’d be an amazing first match for me to step foot in the MMA scene"

While no official announcement has been made, it looks like Shinya Aoki may have his hands full this summer against the returning 'Super' Sage Northcutt. Aoki and Northcutt verbally agreed to face each other this summer, but ONE Championship has yet to confirm if that bout will be taking place.